It’s like a child in the middle of a temper tantrum (“we do not want to listen to him.”) The parent might be offering the very thing the child needs, but the child is too busy with the tantrum to stop screaming, to listen, and to find out what is actually being communicated / offered.

It seems that dissenters have bought the lie of the serpent in Genesis and so interpret things through the lens of a power-struggle (cf. Genesis 3:5).

This is very unfortunate. Anyone who has taken the time to read what the Pope said during his apostolic visit to America would realize that he didn’t shake the finger at anyone, but was ready to put the best interpretation on everyone’s efforts to live the Gospel, and encouraged everyone to foster a personal, intimate, living relationship with Christ Jesus. The Pope wasn’t issuing mandates, but inviting fellow Christians to mature discipleship. It was a very hopeful message, not a shaming message at all.